How did a left-handed man shoot himself in the right front of his chest while handcuffed behind his back?

Yet still rules it a suicide.

On March 3, 2014, Victor White was arrested by Louisiana Iberia Parish police and patted down, TWICE, and handcuffed behind his back and placed in a police cruiser for transport. On arrival at the station, after police vacated the cruiser, they reported hearing a gunshot inside the vehicle. And then they reportedly found White slumped over, with a handgun laying in the cruiser. At the time they said that he had shot himself in the back.

Today’s coroner’s report, obtained by NBC News, contradicts the claim he shot himself in the back, saying the entry wound was in the front, in the right side of his chest.

But according to the full final report of the Iberia Parish coroner, which was released nearly six months later and obtained exclusively by NBC News, White was shot in the front, not the back. The bullet entered his right chest and exited under his left armpit. White was left-handed, according to family members. According to the report, the forensic pathologist found gunshot residue in the wound, but not the sort of stippling that a close-range shot can sometimes produce. He also found abrasions on White’s face.

At the time of his arrest, he was accompanied by a friend, Isaiah Lewis, who has said that when he last saw White being placed into the cruiser, he had no marks on his face. Yet the autopsy shows wounds in the face.

Also, the police found cigars and a “small amount of cocaine” on the second patdown/search. A “small amount of cocaine” is a pretty small thing to find, yet presumably they could not find a gun.

So we are to believe that a man, searched twice by professional police officers, and handcuffed behind his back, sitting in the back seat of a police cruiser, shot himself in the chest with a gun, and on the right side of his chest, despite being left handed. I mean, imagine standing up with your hands cuffed behind you, and how hard impossible it would be to shoot yourself in the chest. Now imagine sitting in a confined space like the backseat of a police cruiser. (For those who have never had the pleasure, I can attest first hand that any movement at all is difficult in such a situation.)

To recap, a left handed man, patted down twice, handcuffed behind the back, inside the back seat of a police cruiser, who according to all friends and family was very happy, shot himself in the right side of his chest and injured his face.

I don’t believe it for a second. And yet, I’d bet dollars to donuts after posting this someone will comment how I’m being a paranoid conspiracy theorist for even thinking it didn’t happen that way. Presumably because the evidence is so overwhelming that it happened exactly as the police said, and the police never lie.

Heh, the St. Louis/Ferguson cops still haven’t caught up yet. So much better to suicide them inside a police cruiser where those pesky witnesses and cameras can’t see what’s going on. I guess they’re not only racist killers, but dumbasses too. Who knew?

And I don’t know how many more, all I know is I’m goddamned tired of it already. This is at least the third or fourth suicide in a police cruiser I’ve heard of, and that’s three or four too many. Because I think they’re all bullshit.

But as I’ve stated before, the police all across the country have been paying attention to the fact that every time a cop is brought up on charges they get not guilty verdicts. So they’ve learned there is not going to be any accountability.

If there is no accountability, this, Ferguson, and much more and worse will occur before it stops. Probably much, much worse.

White slumped over, with a handgun laying on the floor of the cruiser. At the time they said that he had shot himself in the back.

So the guy is double jointed and after he shoots himself in the back he throws the gun into his front lap? If your goin to lie to me please try and make it believable.
No mention of the FBI deciding to take over this investigation?

So the guy is double jointed and after he shoots himself in the back he throws the gun into his front lap?

That’s a very good point, and while my memory keeps insisting this was part of the story, because I now can’t find verification of this, I’m going to err on the safe side and edit the diary to just say it was found in the cruiser.

The talk over on pbszebra’s BBN thread is about whether or not Dzhokhar Tsarnaev will get a fair trial. If the cops continue with executions at their present rate I guess we soon won’t need to concern ourselves with such things. Terrifying thought! Thanks OFG.

It is rare, but not unheard of, for cops to miss a handgun during a patdown prior to handcuffing. For example, in Muncie, Indiana, in 1990, an officer arrested Michael Lambert for public intoxication, handcuffed him, and placed him in the cruiser. Lambert was able to retrieve a concealed (stolen) handgun from his person, and shoot the arresting officer five times in the back of the head, killing him.

That said, in the case that you discuss here, it appears that the cops beat someone up, placed him in handcuffs in the back of the cruiser, shot and killed him, and then lied about it, because:

1) As you point out, they ‘found’ a tiny amount of cocaine but missed a handgun (not likely).

2) The court in Lambert determined that his act took “dexterity,” but the case you discuss would entail Cirque-du-Soliel contortion- he would have to bring the gun well in front of himself, turn it, and do all of that, left-handed. This does not make sense. If he was truly suicidal, there would be no reason to include complicated contortion in a suicide plan.

3) The cops made up a story. Had they simply stuck with the reality of the shot-from-the-front scenario, well, that might be weird and odd, but not unheard of. But they didn’t. They lied.

Still just how flexible do you have to be to shoot yourself in the back while wearing handcuffs? The police story is a joke.

Today’s coroner’s report, obtained by NBC News, contradicts the claim he shot himself in the back, saying the entry wound was in the front, in the right side of his chest.

The police didn’t think an autopsy would be done on this case? Or are they that dumb to think this story would work are they the only people in America not to have seen “Law and Order ” reruns for the last decade or more?

One way to know if ferguson has had any impact is if Insurance for police depts that have had police brutality, wrongful death or murder charges filed against them has gone up. Not sure how to check that if it happened.
This case should end in a huge lawsuit Ferguson another huge lawsuit plus a huge bill for police overtime to handle the protests.
The police expect one day protests that fizzle out multi day protests cost money, protests in the suburbs like Ferguson not the big cities cost money real estate prices should tanked in Ferguson and that will cost money, its likely the cops won’t be able to fund the town by pulling over and or fining African Americans anymore.
So taxes are going to have to go up and or the town will have to make some cutbacks, school funding will be cut a charter school brought in, pension funds for government workers will be cut except for police.

This sort of tragedy seems to be happening more and more frequently and seems to me that no fucks are given. Sure there is a little hell raising but when that dies down – life goes on and no one is accountable. I, too, have been cuffed and placed in the back seat. My cuffs were so damn tight that I couldn’t scratch an itch if I had to. No way in hell did this incident happen this way.
“paranoid conspiracy theorist”? I think not. Clear headed realist? Yes.
“fascist police state”? Hell yes.
Thanks, OFG.

In the ‘O! For a memory’ category, I’d thought I’d recalled a few convictions for officers murdering citizens. Alas, the few I checked who’d been tried weren’t convicted.

But along the way, I went to a few Twitter streams (drat the need to search those!) on which I’d seen various folks trying to compile some national lists and databases. Even found one trial (tada!) that began this week, so when I get a chance, I’ll write up the bits and bobs I discovered. Real life is chock-a-block with chores and obligations lately, though.

Ha; Anthony Freda just sent me some of the police state are he’s done lately. And *belatedly sent me*, I might add. ;)

This happened in 1987 in Indianapolis. Michael Taylor was handcuffed and subsequently shot (self inflicted). According to IPD,they initially said he had hidden a gun in his shoe–but viola! A full body picture of Michael Taylor at the time of arrest was published in the local paper and showed no such thing. Then,it was changed to somebody left a gun in the car,etc.

A civil case was eventually brought against the city by Taylor’s relatives. The case was sent to Greenfield Indiana (Hancock County). A very white and racist town. But something amazingly happened. Even the people (jury) of Hancock County didn’t buy into the sham proffered by IPD and awarded damages to the family.

Oh, okay, I think I see where you’re coming from now. If a right handed person lowered his arm, they would presumably “curl it” in towards their chest, and thus would result in it being aimed at the “other” side. If I explained the picture in my mind properly.

Yeah, I see that, but in this case we need to remember the trajectory of the bullet. I believe in a case such as what I described above, the bullet would enter “straight” or almost straight into the chest.

In this case, the bullet entered his right chest area, and exited under his left armpit. Meaning the gun was pointing toward his left side; in other words was perpendicular to his body rather than pointing straight at it.

I think even without handcuffs, it would be a herculean effort for someone to take their left hand, reach around to the right side of their chest, and point it so that the bullet exited under their left armpit. It would simply by physically impossible while cuffed behind the back.

IMO, if it happened the way they claim it did, he would have had to have done it right handed, which is why IMO his handedness was an issue.

I mean the only thing I can come up with in all of my imaginings is that if he had one that passed through two patdowns, then it might have been concealed in his genital area.

Nope cops claimed they found drugs on the kid once they do that the search gets very personal everything is patted down. I don’t think its possible to hide a gun in your butt much less get the gun out if you are wearing pants and are handcuffed.
Where is the FBI ?

My first thought when reading this? Well, beyond thinking that the frickin’ fascist cops stone cold murdered this young man… my next thought: did the cop HAND the young man a gun? OR leave it conveniently on the seat??

Clearly, though, the young man was manacled and couldn’t have shot himself in the back OR the chest. At “best,” maybe in the arm or something. But why would he do that, anyway?

Ok. Enough speculation. It’s clearly bullshit. the cops murdered this young man. And yes, they’ll get away with it because there never appears to be any consequences for this shite.

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